I’ve got a pizza, a beer, and a TiVo.
We won’t do the normal running play-by-play because, hey, the thing is two days old already. And I’m lazy. And, frankly, the pizza gets priority. And sometimes it gets stuff on the keryboard.
More in a few.
1. Kerry: “He wants you to believe I can’t be President.” It should have been a good line, but he sounded like a petulant drone with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.
2. “Let’s have a summit?” This is what Bush should have said last week.
3. “I have been consistent.” Did anyone do the math? Did Kerry use that line even more often than “I have a plan.”? Actually, Kerry’s quite good when he’s criticizing Bush on postwar Iraq. But then, every time, he goes back to WMDs. It’s getting old already, and I’m only 18 minutes into the debate.
4. Red, chewy meat. When Bush talks about being unpopular in Europe, I just get all quivery inside. I’m swooning like a schoolgirl here.
5. Once again, Kerry is in top form, discussing problems with the conduct of the war. His solution? Say it with me now: “I have a plan.”
Has anyone else compared that with MLK’s “I have a dream”? Kinda pales, doesn’t it?
6. “Ammos”?
7. “That answer almost made me wanna scowl.” Funny. Human.
8. OK, Matt and I are sitting here watching the debate, and he says, “Kerry looks like a muppet?” So we paused the TiVo and hashed it out. In profile, Kerry does indeed look like a muppet. A cross between Beaker and the non-round old guy in the balcony from the Muppet Show.
Just in case you needed to know.
9. “I hear there’s rumors on the internets.” Bush’s flubs never fail to crack me up. I got nothing else to say on his answer, because I’d have to pause the tape again until I stop laughing.
10. Bush is good when he’s pissed, and he got pissed when Kerry said “we’re going alone.”
11. When either guy talks about making the country “safer,” it’s instant MEGO time. It’s a losing proposition, in all kinds of ways.
12. Question. Has anyone yet slammed prescription drug re-importation as “outsourcing socialism?
13. Kerry’s also on target when talking about the Republican budget deficit. In fact, it’s one reason I’d dearly love to vote for a Democrat next month. But I can’t in good conscience vote for this Democrat. Said it before, I’ll say it again: Why couldn’t Lieberman win the nomination?
14. OK, the “liberal” card is an old one, a boring one, and an unfair one. Bush, however, just played it expertly. Damn near found myself cheering.
15. Kerry said Bush was batting 0-2, and it was a fine response to the liberal card. Until – sigh – the “I have a plan” thingy.
16. Bush talked deficits, and did OK. Kerry came back with. . . health care?
17. Gibson gets kudos for calling both men for not explaining how they’d cut the deficit in half in ten years. Best question yet.
18. The John McCain references serve Kerry well during the debate, but will they do so after? McCain has endorsed Bush already, and people will remember that.
19. They’re talking about the environment. I’m getting another beer.
20. “I’m not fiscally irresponsible,” Kerry said. “I marry every time I need money,” Matt said back to the TV.
21. “I own a timber company? That’s news to me. Need some wood?” No thanks — I think I just sprang some.
22. Kerry’s good on the PATRIOT ACT, too. I just wish he could sell it better, because parts of that law need to be fixed or scrapped.
23. Kerry got a great set up with the stem cells question, but he flubbed the start of his answer. While I agree with him, that stumble made it difficult to follow the answer — and he continues to flub. Ouch.
24. Bush’s answer, while I disagree with him on stem cells, is going to play well in Missouri, one of the most hardcore right-to-life states in the nation.
25. I was going great with Kerry’s Supreme Court appointment answer, until he started prattling off a list of court issues — including equal pay for women? That’s a court issue?
26. “Culture of life” is about the nicest I’ve ever heard the anti-abortion case made.
27. Matt says, “They say Bush smirks a lot, but every time I look over at Kerry…” Yeah, me too. Then again, I never had a problem with smirks. Obviously.
28. We’re at the closing remarks now, and Kerry just fails to inspire. Bush doesn’t do it, either – but he has the “we know this guy” advantage of incumbancy. That’s probably enough to make the difference.
Final thoughts tonight.
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